Mostrar 6766 resultados

Sonnet written by George and dedicated to Ruth Turner and her sister Marjorie

Sonnet written by George and headed To Ruth

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

14 May - Had done very little pining as he wanted to keep all thoughts of her to be a positive experience. Spent the morning in school, teaching King Lear and Carlyle, who was a bore, and Heroes and Hero-Worship which would be a good book if it were shorter. Had finished teaching Cromwell much to his relief.

He wouldn't think about talking to his friends about the things he writes to her about. Had spent the afternoon chaperoning students on the river towards Somerset Bridge and was due to have a pupil at 9:15.

15 May - The weather was nice and he wished she was there. The weather wouldn't be nice with her as she was in Ireland. Hopes she has been sick on the boat as when he is sick it does him good. He had to see Rendall about an entrance English paper and asks if Ruth's father knows Rendall.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

She must be in another continent at least as he had not yet received a letter from her.

His Form were dong a paper on the First Act of King Lear. He had been to a tennis party and dinner party at the Headmaster's House where Mrs Fletcher [wife of the Headmaster] had referred to Ruth as very pretty. Mrs Fletcher had asked about their arrangements for the future and what colour their rooms would be. Suggests they should be high toned and have an emerald, sapphire or amethyst room; or be romantic and have a room like Monte Cristo’s cave; or like the bottom of the sea; or, should he take Orders and adopt mid Victorian culture?

Had been to a dinner party at Prior’s Field with the Clutton-Brocks. Sets out his plans for the weekend.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

Was delighted her letter had arrived. The country sounded lovely and he wished he could walk the hills with her. Glad she loved the hills and was interested in Whymper’s ‘Scrambles’. They ought to have a proper climbing season that year in the Alps.

Had spent the morning altering the second four lines of the sonnet he was writing [See: MCPP/GM/3/1/1914/2] and gives her instructions on the metre and how best to read it. He hopes she will like it. He had been correcting Shakespeare papers and was behind with his correspondence. He had an aversion to the military and would like to discuss the subject more with her. He was a doubter in life with enough firm views for a firm foundation but liked to think and change his mind. Mary's [his sister] man Ralph Brooke was an instructor at Woolwich, and therefore both a school-master and a solider.

She wouldn't be lonely now she had the sonnet. He adds to the letter the next day asking her to date her letters.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

Teases her about misspelling the word 'glacier' [Ruth had dyslexia]. Misses and loves her. Is frightened when she says their life will be perfect together and warns her to expect downs as well as ups but thinks it will turn out at least as good or even better than she imagines.

Would send her a letter from his mother and asks her opinion. He describes the previous day when he had been walking with Hilton Young [Geoffrey Young’s brother]. They had met another Cambridge friend was was now a doctor and a man he knew slightly. His friends were nicer now than when they were at Cambridge. Puts it down to having a job. He lunched with the Clutton-Brocks and played cricket with the boys.

He was behind with work and worried about the Shakespeare papers which he had been correcting - the boys didn’t appreciate Cordelia. They didn't have the necessary emotional experience. He wanted to write an article about Cromwell. Clutton-Brock had given him his book about William Morris which he would read and send on.

He had received a cheque for £100 as a wedding present. It was a serious annoyance to him that she was rich and he was poor.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

He had started the letter once already ragging her for not writing [he had not received a letter that day] but had torn it up as he was afraid she would take it too seriously. He assumes there was no Sunday post. His sister Mary and Ralph Brooke were in the room talking and it was distracting him. Ralph had played in a cricket match against the school and made a century. Would she like him to be a hero like that? Mary and Ralph were talking about their wedding service plans and about cricket.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

He had no pupil that evening. The boys were being taught to fight on the other side of the pergola so it wasn't quiet. Agrees that other people seemed dull and it was all wrong and annoying but it would all be alright once they are married.

His day had started with a pupil before breakfast followed by two hours in school. One class contained some exceptionally irritating people and he was quite annoyed. He had a more enjoyable afternoon teaching history to his form and then English with the smallest boys. He had read poetry with them and they seemed enchanted. He was in quite a good humour.

He hadn't known how important her letters would become to him. He had found a photograph of himself taken in Wales which he hoped was agreeable. He provides an address for Avie [his sister Annie Victoria known as Avie]. He was delighted with a map Ruth had sent as it made him think of her in beautiful surroundings. He hoped she would get up the mountain and warned her not to be deceived by Whymper as things had changed a lot since his day [late 1800s]. They knew much more now and climbed much better.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

It was a wonderful that she loved him and wanted to know him and that his letters had meaning to her.

She mustn’t depend too much on him as he might affect her growth and she his. There must be separate individual growths. He was not perfect and didn't wish to be because it would be very dull. She was so disturbing to his balance that he didn't now whether he was on his head or his heels.

He was reading Clutton-Brock’s book on William Morris whom he admired. Morris was the foundation of all their present revolt against the heritage of Victorian ugliness. He had also read two new sonnets by Keats which expressed exactly his own feeling. That was what the great poets did for us.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School on headed notepaper [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

He had written to his mother but did not understand her reply until Mary [his sister] explained to him that it was usual for a bride-groom’s parents to provide house linen. He had slept out the previous night and felt glorious and now had to prepare his history lessons.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

Had finished reading William Morris and was delighted and much moved by it. He associated her family with William Morris and there was a very nice reference to her father’s work in the book. He would send the book on to her. He wanted to look up some of William Morris’s poetry as he knew very little of it.

He had been writing poetry but had to stop and go to the Headmaster’s house [Frank Fletcher]. He couldn't talk seriously to anyone as it was always time for tennis. Tennis was irritating because when he hit the ball hard it always went out.

His last letter was ridiculous which he didn't mind as it was good for her to have someone to laugh with as she appeared to be deliciously solemn at moments. He was much too conceited ever to envy a cricketer. He only envied the poets. He was glad that the sonnet he wrote [See: PP/GM/1/1/1914/2] meant something to her.

The boys were being jolly. He describes Miss Pollock by practising a literary parody of Henry James. He describes a thunderstorm which occurred during the night and was still on his mind as he read the great third act of King Lear to his Form. Explains his interest in Lear and asks her to read some of John Keats’ letters.

Was expecting his friend Lytton Strachey to arrive and stay the night. He was very queer to the world but not to him as they were friends but he must be very irritating to many people. He had a profound respect for his intellect and passion with which he held the doctrine of freedom. His love for him as a man of intense feeling and fine imagination helped him put up with much that he wouldn't tolerate in others.

He had borrowed a copy of Poems by the Way by William Morris from the Clutton-Brocks. He thought they should buy the same edition as a wedding present. He loved what she said about money but he had only been about 1% serious in his previous letter which she would have known if she could have seen him talking. Money was comic and wholly irrelevant to him.

Wonders what wedding presents they might receive. The idea of possessions didn’t interest him unless he had some part in producing a beautiful whole with them. Avie and Harry [his sister and her husband Harry Longridge] had received 300 wedding presents, and his sister Mary would receive more. He had suggested to Mary that she could have all the ones they received that they didn’t want but she had refused the offer so he would have to get her a present.

Letter to Ruth Turner, written from Charterhouse School [Ruth was in Ireland with her family]

He had spent a very lazy morning talking with Lytton [Lytton Strachey, a friend of Mallory’s who was staying with him at Charterhouse], reading poetry, particularly The Menage of the March Wind by William Morris. He was visited by Alan Goodfellow who had been ill and stayed to talk during Chapel [he had climbed with Mallory in the Lakes the previous year]. Breakfast and lunch were trying as Lytton didn't like boys. He was very shy because he talked in a falsetto voice. In this sort of company he would say very little and yet look very striking. He was a man you couldn't ignore.

Ruth’s life didn't sound all joy and he hoped the fishermen appreciated how good she was [Ruth and her sisters Marjorie and Mildred spent much of the time rowing the men in the party including their Uncles Lawrence and Hawes out onto the Lochs to fish]. She had a dangerously unselfish disposition but she wouldn't spend her life doing little jobs for him.

Time was a rude limitation on their existence and they would have to find more of it by being more organised. It was only a week and a half until they would see each other.

Postscript - asks if they can make a new vocabulary of love words.